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I'm originally from Jersey in the Channel Islands but moved to the UK in 1996 to pursue an academic interest in global conservation, graduating from Sussex University three years later with a degree in Social Anthropology and Development Studies. Before, during and after university I travelled throughout central, southern and eastern Africa working on hospital and school building projects in Uganda and Zambia, a biodiversity survey in Uganda, technology research in South Africa and Mozambique, and project managed a primate sanctuary in Nigeria.
My practical experience working in the NGO sector is coupled with a strong technology background - I've worked in IT since the 1980's within a range of private sector, corporate, educational and charitable environments in the UK and overseas. In early 2003 I set up kiwanja.net (www.kiwanja.net), specializing in the application of technology in conservation and development, initially working closely with Fauna & Flora International on the application of mobile phone and communications technology in their global conservation work. I've given talks and presentations at a number of events in the UK and South Africa, and my key ICT objective is to help remove the barriers to entry for the non-profit sector, something which I consider to be a particularly big problem for small NGOs working in developing countries.
A good example of the type of work I do is an SMS system which was completed in the autumn of 2005. Called FrontlineSMS (www.frontlinesms.kiwanja.net) it enables small organisations from any sector to manage incoming and outgoing group text messages via a mobile phone or GSM modem. With no reliance on the internet it is particularly relevant for use by organisations working in parts of the developing world who would otherwise be unable to access this type of technology due to lack of internet connectivity.